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T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

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Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#21

Post by antimatter »

joelrunyon wrote: post #18
mikeash wrote: post #16

T-Mobile's policies over the past couple of years have really made me want to become a customer. Plans that are actually reasonably priced, explicitly calling out handset subsidies and making them optional, and now this. I just wish their network was a little better!

I just switched in April after hating life with AT&T and deciding to put my money where my mouth was. In cities - their coverage is VERY good. Countryside & cross country road trips are where they fall off the map, but I've been very happy paying $80 for unlimited call/text/data + No B.S. T-Mobile is way behind in terms of users & they know it - which means they're making strong plays against the competition. Makes m…

I switched to T-Mobile last month after Apple released the 5s. This has also been my experience.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#22

Post by joelrunyon »

mikeash wrote: post #20
joelrunyon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just switched in April after hating life with AT&T and deciding to put my money where my mouth was. In cities - their coverage is VERY good. Countryside & cross country road trips are where they fall off the map, but I've been very happy paying $80 for unlimited call/text/data + No B.S. T-Mobile is way behind in terms of users & they know it - which means they're making strong plays against the competition. Makes m…

Your report matches my impression of their coverage. I head out of the city just often enough to go with a carrier that has better coverage. I've thought about getting some cheap plan on a better carrier for those occasions, but it's not quite worth the trouble. They're so close!

Worth noting - as part of the fall out with the AT&T deal - they got a ton of bandwidth from AT&T and they're putting it to good use across their spectrum. Not quite on par with AT&T/Verizon - but getting there!

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#24

Post by nknighthb »

quink wrote: post #8

Just in case anyone hasn't noticed this: > While the data is free, it won't be particularly fast. Customers can expect network speeds at around the same level that they get in the US after they are throttled. Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said the average speed customers would get would be around 128 kilobits a second. Think of it more of an extension of the Kindle 3G business model rather than anything else.…

For me, that's not the painful part. The painful part is the six week limit.

When I was in Taiwan, I was handed a prepaid dumbphone and a 4G wireless hotspot with iffy battery life and some indoor coverage issues.

Being able to send/receive SMSs and brief phone calls with my smartphone's home number, and keep up on email and light browsing on my own phone without being at the mercy of the hotspot, would have been very nice, but I was there for ~9 months split into two trips during the course of a year.

I would gladly pay an extra $10-20/month (with $0.20/minute voice) for such capability over an extended period, but that wasn't, and apparently still is not, an option.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#25

Post by rhizome »

joelrunyon wrote: post #18
mikeash wrote: post #16

T-Mobile's policies over the past couple of years have really made me want to become a customer. Plans that are actually reasonably priced, explicitly calling out handset subsidies and making them optional, and now this. I just wish their network was a little better!

I just switched in April after hating life with AT&T and deciding to put my money where my mouth was. In cities - their coverage is VERY good. Countryside & cross country road trips are where they fall off the map, but I've been very happy paying $80 for unlimited call/text/data + No B.S. T-Mobile is way behind in terms of users & they know it - which means they're making strong plays against the competition. Makes m…

Now reflect on this old news:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_purchase_of_T-Mobile_...

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#26

Post by ShinyObject »

This is very interesting. 128kbit is fast enough for Google Maps which is good enough for me.

I know they said the free overseas data is only for contract customers but I wonder if they will allow us pre-paid people to add on the "packs" they mention before going on a trip.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#27

Post by aaronbrethorst »

And this is why competition and effective government regulation[1] are fantastic things. If T-Mobile wasn't in a distant fourth place in the US market, or if they'd been acquired by AT&T we wouldn't be seeing this, nor would we see Verizon and AT&T introduce their own versions of T-Mobile's JUMP program.

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/19/att-tmobile-merger-dead/

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#28

Post by djim »

chrsstrm wrote: post #19

This is great. I had an incident in Belize this year where I turned off airplane mode to connect to wifi on the boat I was on and my cellular radio auto-connected to Belize's local mobile carrier without me realizing (I had international roaming enabled on my account). My phone started syncing and updating apps in the background and within 2 minutes of passive usage I had amassed $270 in data charges. Only. 2. Minute…

exact same thing happened to me in belize to the tune of $1500. i checked with AT&T before my trip and they assured me that belize was covered per my international plan, but then backtracked and told me they specifically said it wasn't covered when i disputed the bill. i clearly remember the call as i was deciding between buying a local sim and just using at&t's roaming plan. lesson learned: always get a local sim. it's cheaper.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#29

Post by brownbat »

staunch wrote: post #17
freehunter wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be willing to pay for this service here in the US for a reasonable price. There are plenty of things I would love a low-end data plan for, but can't justify the cost of $45/mo for prepaid data at 1.5GB/mo like Net10 offers. Think of electronics projects that could benefit from an anywhere, always on connection even if it's super slow. But is that project worth $45/mo, and is it worth it if you run out of data…

They have an unlimited plan for $30 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6148698

Had. [EDIT: Er, Have. With apologies, see below discussion.]

I'm paying $25/mo for a limited no-contract BYOB plan. They're still taking my money for it, but I'm a little scared, since I can no longer find it on the site.

Over the last six months, I've seen T-Mobile BYOD plans at $15, 25, 30, 35, 45, and up. Now, you can't get any plan from T-Mobile under $50 per month, and that "cheap" plan comes with less high speed data than they've typically offered for less.

They're killing the value of the plans while rebranding throttling as "unlimited" so it sounds like a perk. "Yeah, use all of our awful throttled data you like. Be our guest!"

Someone should put the old plans, like the one you link to, side by side with the new ones. I don't think so many people would still think this is a win for consumers or competition.

* I've found 1.5 GB is more than enough for email, Wikipedia, and the rare voice call - if I'm settled in somewhere to watch Netflix, I always seem to have wifi.

Re: T-Mobile to offer free unlimited international data, texts

#30

Post by aaronbrethorst »

mikeash wrote: post #14
_delirium wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That still sounds pretty reasonable, considering that at normal roaming-data prices, that 40 GB would cost you about $10,000. Between a speed cap and insane prices, I'll take the speed cap!

128kbps is pretty slow, but it's fine for basic use. That's basically a mediocre EDGE connection like the original iPhone without great coverage, and while it was no speed demon, it was certainly usable. It'll let you send instant messages, and check your e-mail and get directions if you're patient. I could easily see surviving on a plan like this while traveling.

Although the difference between EDGE and LTE is vast, it pales in comparison to the difference between data and no data.
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